


Repercussions

by Tarlan



Category: Primeval
Genre: Alternate Timeline, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-02-27
Updated: 2009-02-27
Packaged: 2017-10-12 23:03:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/130085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick knows a single changed event can have repercussions stretching through all of time...and so does Helen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Repercussions

**Author's Note:**

> Written especially for ALYSE - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  
> Also meets smallfandomflsh #18. Trapped.

Claudia was the safe option; beautiful, intelligent and brave despite having never faced danger before Lester brought her onto the team as a publicity manager. She was exceptionally good at her job too; good at defusing situations and hiding the truth from the general public despite the strange occurrences from when another time found a path to theirs through the anomalies, allowing creatures from the past and future to cross over. Jenny was every bit as clever, every bit as beautiful and he knew he could easily come to love her too given a little more time but in this time-line she had already found someone else. Perhaps if he had been in-love with her then he might have tried to regain a little of that spark he'd found with Claudia, but Jenny deserved more than he could give.

If he could be truthful with himself, Claudia had deserved better too.

Stephen was the dangerous choice and Nick was still reeling from the lies uncovered by a gloating Helen as she tried to shove a wedge between him and Stephen. She'd made the arrogant assumption that by confessing her affair with Stephen in front of all of them, especially Lester, she could force Stephen to go with her. From the look on her face, Nick was willing to bet she'd never considered Stephen's rejection. Perhaps that was why she kept pushing herself on Stephen in the weeks that followed, trying to persuade him to see things her way, and filling his head with half truths without considering the consequences.

Helen had never been one to consider the full ramifications of her actions.

Part of Nick wondered what he would have done if he had jumped through the anomaly to find it was Stephen who had vanished rather than Claudia. He wondered if he would have been able to settle on this reality if he had discovered Stephen had either never existed in this time-line or had chosen a different path, one that had never brought him to Helen Cutter, or to him.

Perhaps his Stephen might still be alive in the other time-line rather than just a memory and a few remains buried in an otherwise empty casket.

Temporal physics was not Nick's strength. He knew about time as a linear process and had never really considered the metaphysics until recently, but he had heard many of the arguments. One side believed that if something happened in the past then it was meant to happen, that it must have always been a part of the past, but if that was the case then Nick wouldn't have been able to recall a different reality to this one.

Others believed that time was linear but that every choice was acted out, splitting into an infinite number of alternate universes, and that changing something in the past merely splintered that particular time-line into yet another new one. It implied that his own reality had simply gone on without him; or maybe the other Nick Cutter, the one from this reality, had stepped through into that reality, leaving him trapped in this one.

Other theories centered around the Butterfly Effect; that time was truly fluid and even one small change in the past would ripple outwards like a pebble thrown into an ocean. The repercussions from that one act would stretch through all of time, altering the future.

All Nick understood was that he had clear memories of a different recent past; one where Jenny was Claudia, and where this ultra-modern ARC didn't exist. He wanted to believe that Stephen was still alive in that other time-line; that he hadn't trapped himself inside that room with a dozen predators just to gain absolution for the lies and the betrayal with Helen.

A scuff of feet drew his attention to the door of his office and he felt a guilty temptation to press the button on the desk that would slide the door closed and lock it. Instead, he sighed, dragging a hand through his hair before rubbing his face tiredly. It was late and the scotch had done little to dull the pain of burying Stephen today.

Connor and Abby shuffled in and sank into the chairs opposite as Nick pushed the half-empty bottle towards them. He snorted softly but without malice as Connor spluttered on a fiery mouthful before handing the bottle across to Abby. She barely winced as she swallowed; her eyes as haunted as his own, and for the same reason. No one spoke and Nick leaned back as they passed the bottle between them until Abby decided they'd all had enough, fumbling with the bottle top. Nick had never noticed her hands shake before. She'd was always been strong despite her smaller stature, always so self-assured. He watched as Connor reached out and held her hands, watched as she leaned in to gather strength from Connor while Nick wondered when Connor had become so strong too.

Connor drew in a breath. "If we found the right anomaly we could go back in time... just a few days."

Nick smiled softly because he would like nothing better than to change the recent past; to stop Oliver Leek before they ended up in that predator menagerie and lost Stephen, but the answer wasn't so much in changing the recent past but resetting it back to how it should have been all along. The answer lie in returning to that place in time where they inadvertently released the future predator and her babies. One or more of those babies must have survived long enough to kill something, causing that tiny ripple in time that had changed the modern world.

Yet, as Nick looked at Abby and Connor, seeing what had to be a newfound relationship built on their shared experiences over these last few weeks, he wondered if he had any right to change things. In the other time-line where Claudia existed, Abby and Connor might never have found each other, and he might have continued pursuing the safe option rather than risk everything on revealing his true feelings for Stephen.

Instead he was as trapped here in this version of the world as Stephen had been in that room, being torn apart by time itself. All the while he wondered if he would make a different decision if he was given the chance to relive the last few weeks. He wondered if turning away from the safe option and telling Stephen how he felt might have made enough of a difference to save Stephen.

Nick closed his eyes and felt his head swim............................

Opening his eyes, he smiled stupidly when Stephen poked his head around the door frame and grinned back.

"So this is where you're holding the celebration," Stephen stated brightly, blue eyes glowing with life and vitality.

On the other side of the spacious office, Abby and Connor were sharing a bottled beer, followed almost immediately by a kiss. Behind him, Claudia was giggling at something Captain Ryan said, and he knew her attention had transferred to the handsome soldier after Nick made his decision not to pursue her. Others filled Nick's office; mostly technicians and soldiers, all celebrating the opening of their new headquarters, the ARC. Lester had stayed for only one drink before finding an excuse to retire from the proceedings, and Nick had just started to wonder where his lover had gone.

Stephen stepped in and poured himself a drink from the half-empty bottle of ten-year-old scotch. When he reached forward to clink his glass to Nick's, there was no mistaking the glint in his eye that told Nick he had lascivious plans for tonight. An arched eyebrow and a glance towards the door was all Stephen needed to convince Nick to leave, and they downed the scotch in one swallow before stepping out into the brightly lit corridor.

"This place is amazing," Stephen stated, still wide-eyed with awe.

Almost at the corner, Nick stopped and pulled Stephen into his arms, kissing him hard and deep, and with so much promise for the night ahead.

"Yes, amazing," he stated, but he wasn't referring to the ARC alone.

As they moved on, partially wrapped around each other, Nick could only be thankful that he'd given Stephen a second chance after hearing Helen confess the affair, but then, he'd never been one to go with the safe option. He'd always preferred to face the truth and pay the consequences, and this time it had been worth it.

***

From the far end of the corridor, Helen watched with both eyebrows raised as her ex-husband and her former lover kissed passionately before turning the distant corner. She had made a silent promise at Stephen's grave side to bring him back from the dead, telling him to be patient. She had owed Stephen that much for helping her, and for simply being there for both her and Nick.

Still...

"Not quite what I was expecting," she murmured but then, altering time-lines was not a perfect science after all.

END


End file.
